My Radio Shack EulogyKirt's Cogitations™ #287

Friends, former employees,
and fellow lovers of all things electronic, we are gathered here today to remember and honor
our lifelong friend and enabler of our hobby and passion,
Radio Shack - once a Tandy company,
as we are familiar with it.

Radio Shack has lingered in failing health for a decade, all the time keeping a brave face
on its dwindling number of stores. Caretakers attempted a variety of infusions and transplants
in an attempt to save the American stalwart electronics retailer. Alas, a confluence of poor
management, an inability to compete with foreign entities, and a planet-wide usurpation of
consumer business by Internet venues (the latter of which are symptoms of the former) caused
its untimely death.

In 2015, Radio Shack filed for
bankruptcy and everyone thought for sure it was a death knell, but fortunately
investment firm
General Wireless Operations, Inc., stepped up and bought its assets and
brand name, which would be shared with Sprint outlet stores. Evidently, even they were not
able to resuscitate the comatose body since in March of this year
Chapter 11
bankruptcy was filed once again.

Here is a long list of actions filed with court clerk dockets regarding Radio Shack
bankruptcy, beginning March 26, 2015 and running through today.

I for one - and I may be the only one - rue the loss of Radio Shack. It has been a staple
on the American landscape for my entire life. Like Montgomery Ward and now Sears & Roebuck
(which recently closed here in Erie, Penn.), many of the retail corporations that built this
great country are disappearing, never to return. Walks through or local mall are not the same.
Time marches on, trends and expectations change, and nostalgic old fogies like me are dragged
along, kicking and screaming, into the future. It's not that I don't welcome and embrace new
technology, it's just that I hate to see reminders of earlier times spent with family and
friends who have passed on go away.

Here are some Radio Shack advertisements that ran in vintage electronics magazines:

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling
2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas
and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer.
The Internet was still largely an unknown entity at the time and not much was available
in the form of WYSIWYG
...

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text
used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.